On Friday night, the Ard Scoil welcomed students past and present, family members and guest to our annual Awards Night when we honour the girls for their many achievements during the year.

M.C. for the night, Mr. Tommy Collins, got the ball rolling as he introduced the first set of awards, the class awards. Each class selects one student to receive this award, and these are always very well received by the audience as the citations extol the students for their kindness to classmates, their sense of fun, and their willingness to get involved in school events but above all, their support of their peers.

Among the comments made by classmates were; “she is a great all rounder!”” She has a lovely smile,” !she works hard” “is a role model” “she has an ability to relate to everyone”

Spirit of Transition Award

This award was granted to Jessica Bannon who last year threw herself wholeheartedly into all the different activities in transition year. She had a very busy year as she took part in some many different aspects of this class such as being a very convincing witch from Macbeth!

This year’s sports star of the year is Laura Connors who has had a wonderful year in show jumping,with a big win in the prestigious Dublin Horse Show and winning silver as a member of Ireland’s team at Fontainbleu in France. An unassuming Laura was totally surprised when called up and then understood why Mrs. Ashe had been at pains to prevent her from travelling to Cavan on Friday night to compete in the show there on Saturday! I’m sure winning the trophy was worth the early start next morning!

Our wonderful new crystal trophy, sponsored by parents of a past pupil, was presented by Zoe Scanlon, a four time winner if this award.

Academic Awards

These awards are presented to those who achieved excellent results in the Junior and Leaving Cert exams.

Our guest speaker was past pupil Dr. Helena Lenihan who is a Lecturer in Economics at the Business School in the University of Limerick. She is also assistant Dean of Research in the department.

Helena spoke of her first years in U.L as a student when the department was very much male dominated with 110 men to 13 women in the class! She says that is has always been a very easy place to work, not an “ivory tower” with no obvious hierarchy where age did not matter. U.L.was the first to introduce the idea of work placement where every student works in the “real” world for 8 months and where lecturers are encouraged not to be “the sage on the stage” but “the guide in the aisle”. She spoke of her first assignment, to lecture 300 engineers on micro economics!

U.L. celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and Helena is very proud of the years she has spent there. She says the staff is encouraged to keep on top and she was sent to study at the prestigious London School of Economics and the London Business School. As a senior lecturer she visited China this year and found it an exciting experience to visit this country whose economy looks to outstrip the U.S. soon.

In research, she says it is necessary to push knowledge forward and get our economy back to work. She is working with 95 PhD students from across the globe and is delighted to meet these bright young minds who are at “the cutting edge”.

She cited the three top achievements of her career; 1, gaining her Ph.D. in Economics in 2001; 2 receiving a National award for excellence in Teaching and3, spending 2008 to 2009 in Cambridge as a visiting “fellow” where she found some of the traditions very quaint! She enjoyed her time there where she said she learned much, stating “If I have seen further than others, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”

She told the girls to always search for”the giants” in whatever study and work they undertake and to stand on their shoulders as they’ll see further. She told them to have confidence in themselves and with determination to exhaust every opportunity to follow their chosen path. She advised them in this crazy world to always take time out to reflect and realise what is important in life. She told them to always remember where they come from, it will keep them grounded.

She encouraged them to be curious and passionate and to seek to interact with others, as however good you are on your own you’re more with others. She wished them all the best in their future and reminded them they have the “untarnished spark of youth “and to be positive and not be afraid to stand up for what they believe in.

Everyone greatly enjoyed Helena’s inspiring and amusing talk and we thank her for coming to visit us.

Principal Mrs. Dorothy Hughes

Mrs. Hughes thanked Helena for her words of encouragement and thanked the Awards Committee, the teaching staff , the Musicians who entertained us, the school secretaries and our very generous sponsors before inviting everyone to come to the Senior hall to partake of the delicious spread prepared by our wonderful Parents’ Council.

Congratulations to all the award recipients and a big thank you to all those involved in organising such an excellent night. A special thanks also to 3RD YEAR PUPIL Grace Whelan who at the last moment organised a posse of photography helpers. Thanks Grace, Jane, Dervla, Mary and Dearbhaile!